“Our Name Says a Lot!”

The full name of our church is The Church of Christ, Congregational, U.C.C.

We are the Church of Christ, because we seek to follow Jesus Christ in our personal lives, and acknowledge Him as the real and only head of the church.

We are Congregational, because we trace our roots all the way back to the first Puritans who came here on the Mayflower seeking religious freedom. They founded congregational churches which emphasized the freedom of each church to act in accordance with the collective decision of its members, guided by the working of the Holy Spirit in light of the Scriptures. To this day, Congregationalists believe and act in accordance with their individual discernment of God’s will for their lives, guided by the Holy Spirit, with the support and counsel of other committed Christians.

These first two ideas are summarized in our church constitution (Article II, §2 Government):

The government of this Church is vested in the Active Members who compose it. It is an independent ecclesiastical body in matters of doctrine, order and discipline, amendable to no other organization and possessing under Christ, its Head, full power of self-government.  

We are  U.C.C. because like most Congregational churches, we joined a new denomination, the United Church of Christ, in 1957. At its founding, the United Church of Christ brought together two major denominations in the United States: the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical Reformed Church.  While quite different from each other, all of the churches that merged to form the U.C.C. shared commitments to the centrality of Jesus Christ, the authority of scripture, the importance of the local congregation, and the call to service and witness in the world.

The Preamble to the Constitution of the United Church of Christ sets out our common theology:

The United Church of Christ acknowledges as its sole head, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior. It acknowledges as kindred in Christ all who share in this confession. It looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and redemptive work in the world. It claims as its own the faith of the historic Church expressed in the ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of the Protestant Reformers. It affirms the responsibility of the Church in each generation to make this faith its own in reality of worship, honesty of thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God.

There is yet more light and truth to break forth from God’s Holy Word.

Covenant of the Church of Christ, Congregational, UCC

Here in the presence of God, we turn from all our sins;

 We make the faith of Jesus Christ

our way and truth and life;

We crave the Grace of God that was in Christ to save us;

 We seek the Light of God to guide us all our days;

We pray that we may love as Christ also loved;

We covenant with God to be disciples of His Truth

and seekers of His Kingdom;

And with this church we covenant;

To worship faithfully, to observe its sacraments,

To give both our substance and ourselves,

To work and pray for its prosperity,

And to walk with all its members in sincerity and love.

The following is excerpted from the website of the United Church of Christ  (http://www.ucc.org/aboutus/whatis.htm)

What We Believe

We can tell you more about the United Church of Christ with the help of seven phrases from Scripture and Tradition which express our commitments.

• That they may all be one.  [John 17:21] This motto of the United Church of Christ reflects the spirit of unity on which it is based and points toward future efforts to heal the divisions in the body of Christ. We are a uniting church as well as a united church.

• In essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity. The unity that we seek requires neither an uncritical acceptance of any point of view, nor rigid formulation of doctrine. It does require mutual understanding and agreement as to which aspects of the Christian faith and life are essential.

• The unity of the church is not of its own making. It is a gift of God. But expressions of that unity are as diverse as there are individuals. The common thread that runs through all is love.

• Testimonies of faith rather than tests of faith. Because faith can be expressed in many different ways, the United Church of Christ has no formula that is a test of faith. Down through the centuries, however, Christians have shared their faith with one another through creeds, confessions, catechisms and other statements of faith. Historic statements such as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Evangelical Catechism, the Augsburg Confession, the Cambridge Platform and the Kansas City Statement of Faith are valued in our church as authentic testimonies of faith. In 1959, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ adopted a  Statement of Faith prepared especially for congregations of the United Church. Many of us use this statement as a common affirmation of faith in worship and as a basis for study.

• There is yet more light and truth to break forth from God's holy word. This affirmation by one of the founders of the Congregational tradition assumes the primacy of the Bible as a source for understanding the Good News and as a foundation for all statements of faith. It recognizes that the Bible, though written in specific historical times and places, still speaks to us in our present condition. It declares that the study of the scriptures is not limited by past interpretations, but it is pursued with the expectation of new insights and God's help for living today

• The Priesthood of All Believers. All members of the United Church of Christ are called to minister to others and to participate as equals in the common worship of God, each with direct access to the mercies of God through personal prayer and devotion.
  
  Recognition is given to those among us who have received special training in pastoral, priestly, educational and administrative functions, but these persons are regarded as servants—rather than as persons in authority. Their task is to guide, to instruct, to enable the ministry of all Christians rather than to do the work of ministry for us.

• Responsible Freedom. As individual members of the Body of Christ, we are free to believe and act in accordance with our perception of God's will for our lives. But we are called to live in a loving, covenantal relationship with one another—gathering in communities of faith, congregations of believers, local churches.
  
  Each congregation or local church is free to act in accordance with the collective decision of its members, guided by the working of the Spirit in the light of the scriptures. But it also is called to live in a covenantal relationship with other congregations for the sharing of insights and for cooperative action under the authority of Christ.
  
  Likewise, associations of churches, conferences, the General Synod and the church-wide "covenanted ministries" of the United Church of Christ are free to act in their particular spheres of responsibility. Yet all are constrained by love to live in a covenantal relationship with one another and with the local churches in order to make manifest the unity of the body of Christ and thus to carry out God's mission in the world more effectively.

The members, congregations, associations, conferences, General Synod, and covenanted ministries are free in relation to the world. We affirm that the authority of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and interpreted with the aid of the Holy Spirit stands above and judges all human culture, institutions and laws. But we recognize our calling both as individuals and as the church to live in the world:

• To proclaim in word and action the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

• To work for reconciliation and the unity of the broken Body of Christ.

• To seek justice and liberation for all.

This is the challenge of the United Church of Christ.